Innovation is key when it comes to using artificial intelligence (AI) for governance, as per the India AI Governance Guidelines released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday.
The document has seen major re-drafting since a previous framework was put out for consultation in January this year.
Speaking on the report, IT Secretary, S Krishnan, said the government’s priority currently is leveraging AI to deliver “the maximum benefit for the people of the country”, while regulation or legislation will be introduced when required.
“If we believe that the priority needs to be innovation, then regulation is not the priority today. There is a lot of play for innovation in the AI space. Having said that, let me again assert that if the need arises for legislation or regulation, the government will not be found wanting,” Krishnan said.
The IndiaAI governance guidelines report was submitted to the government by a sub-committee under the IndiaAI Mission. The report has been drafted by Balaraman Ravindran, the head of the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at IIT Madras. The broader group that worked on the previous framework was headed by Principal Scientific Advisor, Ajay K Sood.
MeitY Additional Secretary, Abhishek Singh, said the guidelines will be “a cornerstone in developing AI for India, and can be a role model for AI governance globally.”
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The report, which Singh said includes recommendations by at least 650 members of the public, emphasises seven principles for AI governance: trust, people-first approach, innovation-over-restraint, equity, accountability, understandability of LLMs, and “safety, resilience and sustainability.”
Ravindran said they’re calling it the ‘AI Governance Guidelines’, “not AI regulation or anything like that, because we don’t want it to be viewed as something that throttles AI adoption in India.”
The report also strips away much of the work done by NITI Aayog and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“We are focused on human centricity and I am extremely happy to note that these crucial principles are contained in the AI governance guidelines. Clearly, in India, I think this report is going to be a key and important contribution, which underlines the government’s emphasis that our focus is primarily on innovation and we want to use this opportunity of technology,” Krishnan said.
He added that the government will nevertheless “take the necessary action to protect people from the apparent and obvious harms from technology”.
In the short-term, the panel has suggested the establishment of key governance institutions, development of India-specific AI framework, suggest legal amendments, expand access to infrastructure, and increase access to AI safety rules.
In the medium-term, the panel has suggested the government to publish common standards, amend laws and regulations, operationalise AI incidents systems, and pilot regulatory sandboxes, among others.
Ajay Sood said all ministries and industries will need to come together and form groups to look at the safeguards and innovations around AI as the government continues its engagement around capacity-building, drafting new laws based on emerging risks, and standard-setting.
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